Goderich Mayor Myles Murdock says council settled for a tax increase of 4.75 per cent for this year's budget.
Murdock says they didn't have to take anything out of reserves and in fact, they created a new reserve to address future costs.
“We have to consider capital investment, you know roads and equipment and buildings and things of that nature and we've instituted a one per cent capital investment. It's about $90,000," Murdock explained.
He says that's not a lot but it is a start.
Murdock says council was looking at two options, an increase of 4.25 per cent or 4.75 per cent.
“What we ended up doing was we went with the higher rate. The higher rate approximates $10 on $100 of assessment. That's a way of looking at it, but one per cent approximates $90,000.”
Murdock says assessment growth in the past has helped them keep the tax increases down, but he believes the least council can do is cover the cost of inflation as a starting point.